Open Access Repository

Decentralization in Indonesia: Redesigning the State

Asian Development Bank | January 2004

Abstract

Indonesia is an extraordinarily large and diverse nation. Its 6,000 inhabited islands, spread over a huge area, are home to 210 million people and more than 300 linguistic groups. Unlike other large populous nations, however, government in Indonesia has remained highy centralised through decades of authoritarian rule. A quiet upheaval is now underway in Indonesia. Successive governments prompted by the chaotic events of the late 1990s, have sought to seize the potential gains of decentralisation-more effective, more efficient, and more responsive government.
Decentralisation in Indonesia analyzes these events in detail, describing the challenges, processes, and perils of change. It presents the historic context of decentralisation; the development, and implementation of decentralisation policies in Indonesia; identifies the considerable difficulties policymakers have faced in pursuing change; and highlights the work that remains to be done. Decentralisation is within reach in Indonesia, but do Indonesian policymakers have the strength and will to grasp it?